If you visit Jerusalem, inside the old city walls near Gethsemane is the Church of the Assumption, which is the traditional location of Our Lady’s tomb. But something is missing. There is no body!

Unlike the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and countless other saints and martyrs, we have no bodily relics of Mary. Why not? Because there are none. And this is what we celebrate every year on 15^th August: the Assumption of Our Lady, her being taken up body and soul into Heaven. This is different from the Ascension of Our Lord. He went up to Heaven by His own power, whereas Mary was taken up or ‘assumed’ into Heaven by God’s power.

Why would Mary be granted this privilege? It’s because of who she is. Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God, and therefore was preserved from Original Sin from the first moment of her existence. It’s what we call the Immaculate Conception. This is not to say that Mary didn’t need a Saviour. She herself proclaimed in the Magnificat, “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). But God applied the merits of the future Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ to Mary at the moment of her conception. In other words, instead of being pulled out of the pit of sin, she was prevented from falling into it.

And when you think about it, this is all very fitting. God prepared Mary to be the Ark of the New Covenant, meaning she carried in her womb God Himself in the flesh. It is simply unthinkable that the Son of God could dwell in a vessel and take His human flesh from a soul stained by sin. This is why He made Mary immaculate, and since she was without sin, her body was not subject to decay. Death had no claim on her. This is why, according to the earliest tradition, when the Apostles returned to her tomb a few days after she had died, they found it empty. Her body and soul were already reunited in Heaven. Incidentally, when Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption on 1^st November 1950, he left open the question of whether Mary died or was simply taken up to Heaven. However the Eastern Churches call this Feast of the Assumption the “Dormition of the Mother of God” or the “Falling asleep of the Mother of God.”

How does all this concern us? The answer is, what God did for Mary, He wants to do for us. At the end of time, when Christ returns in glory for the Last Judgment, every soul will be reunited with its body – some to eternal life, and others to eternal separation from God. But those who die in God’s grace will receive glorified bodies, free from all pain and sickness, and of course, death. As St Paul writes, “and the dead shall rise again incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). So the Assumption of Our Lady is a foreshadowing of our own resurrection.

So this Friday, don’t just think of it as a Holyday of Obligation. The Assumption is a reminder that even though your body will one day rest in the tomb, if you are faithful, that tomb will not be your final destination. Remain in Christ, and ask Mary to pray that we will share in the glory she now possesses.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC